Advice You Don't Need

On occasion I stumble across an article that purports to give good advice for starting a painting company. Last week I was pointed to such an article by a post on PaintTalk.com This article, like many of the sort, offered advice that was not just bad, but actually destructive.

The article begins on a very bad footing:

If you would like a service business that will keep you busy, house painting is the one! A truck or van, ladders, brushes and some drop cloths are the main mechanical needs; you are the other ingredient needed for a thriving business. This is a business where you can get by with the bare minimum investment at first, then build slowly as your business increases -- adding sir compressors, electrical paint rollers, and other fancy equipment as you need and can afford it.

I've been in business for 22 years, and I do not know what a "sir compressor" is. But I suspect that it is some fancy equipment, like an electrical paint roller. Regardless, this article starts by essentially saying that anyone can paint. But don't take my word for it:

As long as you can take care of the paperwork, you can hire helpers to do much (if not most) of the actual painting. Consider hiring high school and college kids during the summer, and don't overlook retirees. One entrepreneur went to a senior citizen's club and found a group of retired men who would go out and paint his houses without supervision. They did excellent work, kept their own time records, and did the jobs for less than half what a painting contractor would have charged!

Now I have nothing against high school kids-- I used to be one-- or seniors-- I hope to be one some day. But this is just silly advice. Certainly such individuals could learn to paint properly, but the article says nothing about training.

More interesting (or maybe depressing) is that the seniors did the work for "less than half what a painting contractor would have charged!" So apparently the business being described is not a paint contracting business. Further, the author is advocating either low-ball pricing or ripping off the workers or something equally inane.

But it gets better:

One contractor sizes up his prospective clients and adds 10% to his bid for those he suspects will want a lot of modifications. When the job is completed, you will hopefully be paid in full. Here is where you can get into trouble! You have already paid for the materials and your helpers (or owe them), and the owner wants to pay you "next week." One or two cases like this will teach you to get a clear understanding of payment BEFORE you start the job!

Has this author ever heard of a change order? To arbitrary add 10% because a customer might want to modify the orginal agreement is simply horrible advice. If the customer modifies the agreement, you simply write a change order and charge accordingly.

Then, when you are done, "hopefully" you will get paid. I do agree that if you don't get paid you could be in trouble, and that is probably the only sentence in the article with which I agree. But rather than advocating requiring a deposit and progress payments, the author suggests getting a clear understanding of the payment schedule. In other words, ask the customer when he intends to pay you.

That's like asking the wolf to guard the chicken coop. A painting contractor should establish his terms and conditions and communicate those to the customer.

It's bad enough that there are low-ball hacks passing themselves off as painting contractors. But when someone writes an article encouraging people to open a painting business because it's easy, well it just makes me want to spit. Or write a blog post about what a disservice they do to our profession.